Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History / The Black Patriots of the American Revolution
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know we’ve spent a lot of time looking at the structures of power that held people down across the Atlantic world. But today, I want to turn our gaze to a moment where those structures were violently shaken from within—specifically in North America during the late eighteenth century. Luna: You mean the American Revolution? Lucas: Exactly. And while the standard narrative focuses on the Founding Fathers debating liberty in Philadelphia, there’s a parallel story playing out on the battlefields, one driven by thousands of African Americans who saw war not just as politics, but as a potential path to freedom. It’s a messy, contradictory chapter where the fight for independence intersected directly with the institution of slavery. Luna: So they were fighting for their own freedom too? Lucas: They absolutely were, though the motivations varied wildly depending on who they were and what side they chose. On the Patriot side, men like Salem Poor stepped up from bondage to prove their valor, while on the British side, Governor John Murray, known as Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation in November 1775 that essentially turned the war into a race war by promising emancipation to any enslaved person who could bear arms for the Crown. Luna: That must have terrified plantation owners instantly. Lucas: It terrified them completely. Dunmore’s Proclamation didn’t just offer words; it offered a military threat to the economic foundation of the colonies. Within weeks, hundreds of enslaved people fled to British lines, swelling their ranks and forcing the Continental Congress to reconsider its rigid ban on Black enlistment, which had been in place since July 1775. Luna: Did George Washington change his mind about letting them fight? Lucas: He did, largely out of desperation rather than idealism. As the war dragged on and British recruitment of freedmen continued to pressure colonial economies, Washington and General Henry Knox quietly reversed the ban, allowing free Black men—and later some enslaved men whose owners granted leave—to join the Continental Army, hoping to match British numbers. Luna: But were they treated equally once they were in uniform? Lucas: Hardly. They faced severe discrimination, lower pay, and dangerous assignments, yet their participation remained crucial. Take Salem Poor, for instance, a slave from Ashby, Massachusetts, who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. His officers signed a petition praising his courage, calling him a brave and excellent soldier, which eventually helped secure him a pension after the war. Luna: I remember reading about him being called the best soldier in the army. Lucas: Yes, his commanding officers wrote that he 'behaved like an experienced, hardy, brave Officer,' a rare acknowledgment from white superiors in that era. Yet even this recognition didn’t guarantee his immediate freedom, showing how tangled the legal status of these men remained despite their heroism. Luna: What about those who sided with the British? Did they actually get their freedom? Lucas: It was complicated. While Dunmore promised freedom, the reality was chaotic, and many escaped slaves died from disease or combat before seeing true liberty. Others were evacuated to Nova Scotia, the Caribbean, or England, only to face new forms of marginalization, while some were betrayed and returned to slavery when treaties shifted. Luna: That sounds incredibly heartbreaking given all the risk they took. Lucas: It is tragic, but it highlights the brutal calculus of war. One figure who stands out is Crispus Attucks, though his story predates the war itself. Killed during the Boston Massacre in 1770, he was a mixed-race man of African and Native American descent who became the first martyr of the revolution, embodying the rage against oppression that would fuel the conflict. Luna: He really became a symbol long before the shooting started. Lucas: Precisely. By the time the actual war broke out in 1776, Attucks’ death had already framed the struggle as one against tyranny, a framing that Black soldiers eagerly embraced. Men like Oliver Cromwell, an enslaved man from Connecticut who served under General Washington, fought not just for country, but to dismantle the very system that owned him. Luna: Did Cromwell survive the war? Lucas: He did, and he lived to see the end of slavery in Massachusetts, though his journey wasn’t over. Many Black veterans found that their service didn’t translate into full citizenship, as states like New York still imposed property requirements for voting that excluded most of them. Lucas: Quick honest thing — a handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many of these. No ads, no corporate sponsors, just real support from people who value deep history. Luna: Yeah, it’s great to keep the research going without compromises. Lucas: Back to the battlefield dynamics, the British also utilized units like the Ethiopian Regiment, which wore uniforms adorned with black badges and carried drums, creating a psychological impact that unsettled colonial militias who feared slave insurrections more than anything else. Luna: Fear of rebellion was clearly a huge driver for the colonists. Lucas: Absolutely. In South Carolina, the prospect of armed Black troops terrified the planter class so much that they initially refused to arm their own slaves, relying instead on state militias composed entirely of white men, which weakened their defensive capabilities. Luna: So their racism actually hurt their military strategy. Lucas: It did, until the war reached a stalemate and desperation set in. By 1777, Rhode Island even authorized the enlistment of enslaved men with the promise that they would be freed upon service, setting a precedent that other northern states would follow as manpower dwindled. Luna: Did any of these men rise to leadership positions? Lucas: Rarely, but there were exceptions. Peter Salem, another veteran of Bunker Hill, rose to corporal and played a key role in the decisive Battle of Saratoga, helping to capture British officer Major John André, whose papers revealed Cornwallis’s plans to surrender. Luna: That’s a pivotal moment in the war right there. Lucas: It was. Salem’s action contributed directly to the American victory at Saratoga, which convinced France to enter the war as an ally, proving that Black soldiers were integral to the geopolitical success of the revolution. Luna: I hadn’t connected those dots before. Lucas: It’s easy to overlook when the official records minimize their contributions, but archival evidence shows they were present at almost every major engagement, from Lexington to Yorktown. Luna: And what happened to them after the war ended? Lucas: The aftermath was bitter. While the Treaty of Paris in 1783 secured American independence, it did not secure freedom for those who had fought for it. Many Black Loyalists were relocated to Sierra Leone, where they founded Freetown, seeking a fresh start away from American racism. Luna: Starting a whole new colony based on that promise. Lucas: Exactly. Meanwhile, those who stayed in America faced a new constitutional dilemma. The Constitution of 1787 counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation, ignoring their humanity while benefiting from their labor, leaving Black citizens in a limbo of partial freedom. Luna: It feels like the war solved nothing for them immediately. Lucas: For many, it didn’t, but it planted seeds of expectation. The rhetoric of liberty used by the revolutionaries gave Black activists a language to demand rights, leading to early abolitionist movements in the North and persistent petitions for equality. Luna: So their service became a tool for future activism. Lucas: It did. Figures like Prince Hall, who founded the first Black Masonic lodge in Boston, used the legacy of Revolutionary service to argue for civil rights, challenging the nation to live up to its founding ideals. Luna: A powerful legacy that lasted generations. Lucas: Indeed. The stories of Salem Poor, Crispus Attucks, and countless unnamed soldiers remind us that the fight for American liberty was never a monologue, but a chorus of diverse voices demanding justice. Luna: Their courage deserves to be remembered fully. Lucas: Agreed. It makes you wonder how different the nation might have been if those promises of freedom had been kept as readily as the call for independence. Luna: A haunting question to end on.